The count starts from the beginning of 2017 up until the conclusion of the Race to Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship and the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour.

Now before you start, yes we know that 95 per cent of these players are contracted to play the drivers they use so inevitably the brand which pays the most tour players to use their stuff will come out on top.

But it’s still interesting to see which models were in play each time a player made it to the winners’ circle.

And, just for ease, we’ve grouped the 2016 and 2017 versions of the TaylorMade M1 and M2 together.

Top drivers by tour wins: Totals by brand

Top drivers by tour wins: NCG verdict

So there was no surprise to see TaylorMade as the top brand but we were quite surprised to see more wins for the M1 than the M2.

I think there has been a perception that the TaylorMade M2 is the number one driver on tour and that may still be the case but there were more wins with the M1.

It was also a bit of a surprise to just see all victories coming courtesy of just seven brands – and one of those (Nike) is no longer making golf clubs.

We’re not saying that these are the only brands to consider when it comes to making your own purchase as the likes of Srixon, Mizuno, Bridgestone, Wilson, Benross and Lynx are all making very strong product.

But we can understand the challenges of these brands when they don’t have that ‘tour validation’ when it comes to drivers.

And as stated earlier, TaylorMade pay more players than Ping do for example so there is a disparity between the number of Ping drivers winning on tour and Ping’s market share which is extremely strong.

If you’re in the market for a new driver in 2018 you may like to choose one featured here. But we can expect new drivers from TaylorMade, Callaway, Cobra, Mizuno and Titleist in 2018…